


COMPANION

by Kanaii



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Hunter - Freeform, panthers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 03:15:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16778509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kanaii/pseuds/Kanaii
Summary: Short story





	COMPANION

The huntress moved across the hard packed earth. Feet just barely rustling the leaves on the forest floor, felled by the remnants of autumn. Hunger ached through her bones. With winter making itself known, the air was cold and dry, food scarce. She was slower than usual. 

A sound. Her head whipped to the side. There, mountain deer. Perched upon a rocky outcropping, head lowered to the few patches of fresh grass left. The huntress felt her hand twitch to the crude knife of stone strapped to her waist, then stopped. Too far. Much too far. Had she been younger, she could have chased after. Sunk her sharpened stone into fragile flesh and feasted for days. But now she was old. The prey would flee and she would be left with exhaustion and painful hunger. The huntress faced forward. Her destination was clear.

She climbed up the rocky terrain, her territory. Land she knew like the back of her hand. Now she travelled with one place in mind. Rough stone and sandy soil gave way to a sparse scattering of tall lanky trees with with spiny leaves. The vegetation growing marginally thicker the higher she went.

Time passed , the sun moved across the sky. Night falls faster when the Earth grows cold. Shadows crept across the ground. The trees became more ominous and the wind seemed to whisper nothings into her ear. Dark and dangerous. Fitting home for a beast of the night.

Before the tribe had abandoned her, the huntress had grown up to tales of a fearsome beast the lurked in the night. With claws and teeth that would rend and tear , horrible hungry maws that would eat naughty children like her. When she was left alone and forced to hunt for herself, she had come upon the beast. Terror like she had never known had frozen her feet to the ground. She smiled. How many seasons had passed since then? Too many to remember.

The huntress stopped . Twin eyes stared unblinking from the dark , a bright demonic green. As macabre as it was strangely beautiful. She stared back without fear, her fate sealed. She crouched low , lips pulled back in a snarl. Feeble human voice hissing and growling in challenge.

The eyes moved and the night seemed to shift and and separate from the darkness. Inky fur rippled sinuously as the panther emerged into the moonlight. Still big , still dangerous , but fur stuck close to bone, ribs visible. Muzzle gray. Movements shuffling. Not as fast , not as strong as the monster that had terrified her so long ago. Starving ,unable to catch prey.

Old , like the huntress. Dying, like the huntress.

For as long as she had lived, she had known the beast. As the monster of her nightmares. As a beast that could have killed her. Even as competition for the deer and wild bucks that roamed this forest. Always close by. Catching glimpses from between weathered trees. Glowing eyes in the darkness.

Lived together. Die together. She would afford them some dignity. Of not pathetically dying writhing on the ground, alone and in pain.

They circled each other. Gazes locked and primal understanding charging the air. Beast to beast. Hunter to hunter. This would be to the death.

The beast roared in fury and pounced. The huntress tightened her grip on the weapon and engaged in that fatal final dance. Of claws and teeth and stone. Of flashing knives and raw power. She dodged and evaded , senses honed from many such escapes from the beast. Her human body much more fragile. She would only get one chance. Broken and bleeding, the huntress ducked under the swipe of one large paw and drove her knife into the heart of the beast. 

The beast roared in pain. The agonising scream of the dying. It fell to the ground, last breaths coming in short sharp pants. Blood invisible against black fur and the dark of the night. The huntress mirrored its scream of pain , for the other set of claws had scored deep lines into her chest. She would die soon. 

Head turned to the beast and eyes squinting through the pain, the huntress fought through the torture and crawled closer until she could reach out and touch. Slender fingers carded through blood slick fur.

Live together. Die together.  
Monster . Rival. Companion.

The breaths of the beast subsided. Clutching fingers fell slack. Feeble sunlight illuminated the winter sky and the cold earth slowly leeched the warmth from their bodies.


End file.
